It seems as though the student's protests have actually accomplished something, though not all of their demands are being met. Here are the major points:
1) Governor Rick Scott has said that he does not support the arming of teachers. According to him, the only armed individuals in schools should be trained law enforcement officers.
2) His proposal would ban mentally ill individuals and individuals under the age of 21 from buying or owning guns.
3) The AR-15 would still be legal under this plan.
4) The plan would increase public education funding in order to allow for at least one security guard in every school.
5) The plan also calls for a hotline to report warning signs or suspicious activity.
Discuss.
My personal opinion is that this plan is mostly good. A person like the Parkland shooter should not have been able to purchase any kind of gun, given his record and mental state.
That said, I don't think raising the hard age limit is necessary. Perhaps there should be extra steps involved for those under 21, but there are certainly 18-year-olds mature and responsible enough to handle firearms.
Though the students wanted the AR-15 banned, I agree with the governor that bans on certain weapon types are not the solution.
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Absolute garbage. Nothing here would be different except age of purchase. That won’t get passed and he knows it. I wouldn’t expect any less from the republican schill.
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Goddammit. They should be prioritizing mental help and awareness instead of concentrating on -blam!-ing guns. [b]Guns do not kill people.[/b] They are inanimate objects until they are acted upon by an outside force. Wikipedia tell me that roughly thirty seven [b]thousand[/b] (37,000) people died in vehicular accidents in 2016 in America. Who the -blam!- out there is calling for car controls?
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The notion that putting a cop in every school is better than arming teachers is ludicrous. Yes, you need trained individuals, of course you do. But, a teacher can be trained to handle a gun just as well as a police officer can. And they're already there, you don't have to pay a person for being there. And worst of all, if that police officer is wearing a uniform, he's simply the first person a school shooter guns down. The shooter wouldn't even need a gun to get started, he'd just need a kitchen knife or a claw hammer to take down the cop, and then run amuck with his gun. The advantage of arming teachers and staff is that (1) they conceal their weapons; no one knows who they are except those who need to know. (2) There's more than one per school, so a would-be shooter faces multiple adversaries. (3) They're already there, you just pay them a little extra because they have to wear holstered firearms (something compact but potent like a Glock 19 or SIG M18) and soft body armor. You could put three in a school for less than 50% the price of one cop, and that includes rigorous annual training and more shooting practice than most police are required to do.
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So you can be seen as legally mature enough to own and use a lethal weapon designed to kill people at 18, but not alcohol?, you guys need to raise or lower one of those coz it doesnt seem to make any sense.
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Add a tax to firearm and ammo purchases that would go directly to funding mental health facilities in the state of Florida and I'll be on board. This is a reasonable proposal..
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[quote]It seems as though the student's protests have actually accomplished something, though not all of their demands are being met. Here are the major points: 1) Governor Rick Scott has said that he does not support the arming of teachers. According to him, the only armed individuals in schools should be trained law enforcement officers.[/quote] Agreed. LEOs receive far better training than a teacher can. Also, having LEOs in schools is a good community outreach opportunity for those officers. Two birds. [quote]2) His proposal would ban mentally ill individuals and individuals under the age of 21 from buying or owning guns.[/quote] I agree with the mentally ill part. My dad was a cop and had to kill a mentally ill individual who got a gun and started to shoot at anything he perceived to move. Dad won’t talk about it much, but I can tell that it has affected him. The age raise I do have a bit of an issue with. There are quite a few occupations out there for 18 year olds that have them handling firearms (Military, National Guard, Law Enforcement, Dept of Corrections). Now, some of the larger jurisdictions have already raised requirements for becoming a LEO by requiring a college degree, but the smaller ones may not have. Also, there are historical reenactors who start out as young as 14 (reflecting the approximate age of young men who ran away from home to join the army). Another point, how would this stop parents from purchasing a firearm to gift to their kid? I don’t believe this part of Gov. Scott’s plan will work as it feels like a knee jerk reaction to Parkland. [quote]3) The AR-15 would still be legal under this plan.[/quote] Okay. [quote]4) The plan would increase public education funding in order to allow for at least one security guard in every school.[/quote] This should have been a thing after Columbine. [quote]5) The plan also calls for a hotline to report warning signs or suspicious activity.[/quote] Excellent!! [quote]Discuss. My personal opinion is that this plan is mostly good. A person like the Parkland shooter should not have been able to purchase any kind of gun, given his record and mental state. That said, I don't think raising the hard age limit is necessary. Perhaps there should be extra steps involved for those under 21, but there are certainly 18-year-olds mature and responsible enough to handle firearms. Though the students wanted the AR-15 banned, I agree with the governor that bans on certain weapon types are not the solution.[/quote] You and I are on the same page. Since the vast majority of murders in this country are committed with handguns, banning rifles, even assault rifles will make very little statistical difference. The reason these kinds of murders get so much attention is because they are so rare by comparison. Same thing with plane crashes. More people are killed in cars, but when a single plane crashes, it tends to kill more people than a single car crash. Something does need to be done. I completely agree with that, and I agree with mostly everything Gov. Scott is proposing, but raising the age is a bit problematic. I work at a Prosecutor’s Office looking up backgrounds of criminals, victims, and witnesses for the attorneys to help build cases. Occasionally, when FDLE gets swamped, we do background checks for potential buyers for firearms sales. If the check is not completed in 3 days from submission, the buyer is essentially automatically cleared. I would recommend that this changes. Give the state a week to do the background checks. Also, some states during a background check do not list the severity of crimes (felony/misdemeanor). We need states to make that clarification in their records. These two moves would do wonders for the whole background check argument.
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Sounds workable except the 1 security guard per school. There should be a percentage of security personnel to the number of students. The more exterior doors, the more security needed.
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My issue for point number 2 is, do they really not care if the individual is mentally ill or unstable after they turn 21? Once a mentally ill individual turns 21, they can just get a gun at that point? Just get rid of the hard age limit and encompass it for all mentally ill individuals, and throw in a mental health comprehensive reform package along with it. America has many mentally ill individuals after they were given the shaft in the 80's under Reagan.
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The mentally ill are less likely to be involved in a violent crime or shooting than the general population. Discrimination against them isn't based on evidence, and will not result in fewer shootings. Also keep in mind that the weapon used in the Florida shooting was stolen from a locked safe.
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So basically do absolutely everything [i]except[/i] ban the guns. The NRA will be laughing all the way to the bank.
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[quote]1) Governor Rick Scott has said that he does not support the arming of teachers. According to him, the only armed individuals in schools should be trained law enforcement officers.[/quote] Fair enough. I don't agree, but fair enough. [quote]2) His proposal would ban mentally ill individuals and individuals under the age of 21 from buying or owning guns.[/quote] The mentally ill already can't own or purchse firearms, so that's completely pointless. Under 21, I'm ok okay with, as long as you aren't eligible to join the military or vote either. In some cases I might also add not eligible to drive either. If we're going to address the issue of what constitutes an adult, it should be a set age across the board for everything. [quote]3) The AR-15 would still be legal under this plan. [/quote] As it should be. [quote]4) The plan would increase public education funding in order to allow for at least one security guard in every school.[/quote] Great, they need to be "Armed" security guards though. Gotta watch the wording from these politicians. [quote]5) The plan also calls for a hotline to report warning signs or suspicious activity. [/quote] Umm ok, I thought we already had one, it's called the police. This is only useful if they actually do something with the information, unlike they did in Florida. All in all, this is mostly lip service. There is really nothing here (for the most part) that isn't in effect to some degree already, which I'm fine with as no politician will address the real issues that cause icedents like these.
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Of course, he wouldn't have to propose a ban for people with mental health issues from owning firearms if Trump hadn't signed an executive order repealing Obama's legislation that sought to do just that.
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[quote]It seems as though the student's protests have actually accomplished something, though not all of their demands are being met. Here are the major points: 1) Governor Rick Scott has said that he does not support the arming of teachers. According to him, the only armed individuals in schools should be trained law enforcement officers. 2) His proposal would ban mentally ill individuals and individuals under the age of 21 from buying or owning guns. 3) The AR-15 would still be legal under this plan. 4) The plan would increase public education funding in order to allow for at least one security guard in every school. 5) The plan also calls for a hotline to report warning signs or suspicious activity. Discuss. My personal opinion is that this plan is mostly good. A person like the Parkland shooter should not have been able to purchase any kind of gun, given his record and mental state. That said, I don't think raising the hard age limit is necessary. Perhaps there should be extra steps involved for those under 21, but there are certainly 18-year-olds mature and responsible enough to handle firearms. Though the students wanted the AR-15 banned, I agree with the governor that bans on certain weapon types are not the solution.[/quote] That point about individuals under the age of 21 owning guns is beyond -blam!-. You can fight and die in your military at age 17 but oh no you can't be allowed to own a firearm. Nor can you drink. Hmmmm....
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It seems to be a good plan, I think the age limit of 21 on mentally ill is good, I know this guy who is at least 25 and mentally ill, he still shouldn’t have a gun, he actually talks about katanas, AR-15s, and machetes, and that kind of stuff, and to be honest what he says scares me